((Let me preface this post by saying that, yes, I did work as a sort of fan-consultant for G4 for 3 months, but that contract is over and now I'm free to spew whatever I feel!))

So, pretty much everyone is bitter at G4 for some reason or another, but I have to admit that they are impressing me a lot this year. This latest story is pretty cool.

How often do you hear about Presidents of cable networks posting in forums or even CALLING angry viewers? That's exactly what happened to "reaper36s" a G4 forum user who pretty much hung out in the "Viewer Feedback" forum and screamed obscenities at G4 for ruining TechTV, canceling a ton of their gaming shows, picking up COPS and CHEATERS etc. He demands that Neal Tiles, the network president, explain himself. Neal Tiles surprisingly posted several responses to try and explain his actions as president, but that wasn't enough for Mr. Reaper36s. Next, Reaper36s demanded a phone call from Tiles.

What do you fucking know, Neal Tiles calls the dude. They apparently talk for over an hour.

Neal posted the summary of what they talked about here, so here's the copy-pasta:

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[i]First, I want to thank G4 forum member Reaper36s for taking the time to talk to me. He opened my eyes to a point of view from the fans that was very helpful and valuable for me to hear. He also had a few great suggestions that we are going to investigate. I asked Reaper not to disclose some of the information I shared with him about G4's financial past, but what I did share with him, which I'm happy to share with you all, is that at the end of 2005, after nearly three years of "Videogame TV"...G4 was losing tens of millions of dollars EACH year...with a business plan that, even with aggressive assumptions in growth, had no end in red ink for another five years at least. That's a big compounded loss if the business did not change its course. Who would want to, or should want to, fund this kind of business? Ours was not a decision on how to make MORE profit, rather it was how to show positive cash flow to be a viable business, because guess what...while many of you might not like the amount of gamer TV we have on now...or not like COPS or Cheaters...if G4 went out of business all we would be left with is 13 half hours a year of GameTrailersTV on Spike at 1am.

Yes, the G4 numbers Onoma posted are low. Welcome to the world of media fragmentation. I hope this shows you how just how hard it is out there to gather an audience, though to be fair to G4, this ranks us based on Adults 18-34, while our target is Men 18-34. We rely/sell on our concentration of young men. We don't try to pass ourselves off as an aggregator of mass impressions...we're just not that kind of business...yet.

Though the numbers from Onoma's post represent a significant increase from where we were 3 years ago, we're not out of the woods yet. We're certainly headed in the right direction as evidenced by our track record of growth...this is really great for all of us, viewers included.

There are a few things I'd like to chime in on at this point, because I feel like there are a few key things unsaid here in many of the posts: There's been discussion that I canceled shows just because I wanted to change things. I canceled shows that did not perform relative to their cost...and/or that we felt was duplicative to one another (i.e. Judgment Day was close enough to X-Play). Heck, at the time, even one of the hosts of G4TV.com told me flat out...that they didn't know why their show (one of the more expensive ones to produce at the time) lasted as long as it did with the lack of ratings it was getting.

* Regarding canceling shows that had a loyal following of forum posters, I value what people here on the forums have to say. It's ONE of the instruments we use to make decisions, but it's not the primary instrument...that is reserved for ratings results. It has to be, since, at the end of the day, that is the true measurement the business is built upon. Ask the producers of TV shows like Jericho or Arrested Development or Firefly if those canceled shows had a loyal/devoted/vocal fan base before they were canceled...or the movie executives who produced Snakes on a Plane. Simply, success in online communities doesn't always translate into performance success overall...on the flip side, look at a show like CSI, a monster hit, but really no big forum community to match that success.

* Regarding the allegations that I'm not a believer in videogame programming... I've said it 1,000 times, I'm not opposed to videogame programming at all, I just value videogame programming with wide appeal. The think I am opposed to is having gaming programming be the only thing the network airs. I will state again, the opportunity for a linear TV network JUST about gaming is too narrow to sustain a business the size of G4's. That's not a statement based on opinion, it's based on facts. Three years worth of learning that the business is just beginning to emerge from. That being said, I'm proud of the gaming content we have added over past three years (as outlined in past Open Sources).

* Regarding X-Play, we didn't change it to just "F" with it...we changed it because its ratings growth was not keeping up with the growth that the rest of the network was experiencing overall. Also, X-Play could boost the overall network average with just a modest bump in ratings because of how much we use this program (it's our most aired show) Guess what? It worked...the new X-Play has seen fantastic growth this year (the show is up +20% thus far)

* So why does it have to be COPS and Cheaters? Simply, these shows give us a reliable amount of "covering fire" that we can re-build the business around...I recognize they aren't the perfect fit for us, but, again, based on the financial situation the network was in, and still is, though to a much lesser extent, we really didn't/don't have a choice. We need something to bank on as we could not do so with the gaming shows we had.

* "Could the growth be coming from an increase in the amount of people who now get G4 vs. three years ago?" The answer is: "a little bit, but not really." Over the past three years G4's gone from 55 million homes to 63 million homes...that's an increase of about +15% in distribution/more homes getting G4. Meanwhile, our ratings (i.e. percent of viewing among people who get G4) have more than doubled (i.e. more than +100%) Simply, the increase is due to more people watching what we have on, both videogame programming (X-Play and gaming events) and non-videogame programming (Comic-Con, COPS, Cheaters, Ninja Warrior, and AOTS).

So, I realize most of the posters here will never come around to accepting the reasons why we are no longer a pure videogame network. I realize many of you think we are trying to be like MTV or Spike TV, and maybe that is the cold truth, but know that we are doing so with the intention of videogame content, gadget/tech content, viral web culture content and unique live event programming as the principles that define what G4 is now and in the future. NOT EVERYTHING WE AIR will make sense to this definition, I realize that, but the things that don't (COPS/Cheaters) give us the foundation to build a future, one that may not need these shows OR at the very least, don't rely on them so heavily. That's our goal, but it will take time for us to get there financially. So in the meantime you'll likely see things that you may not like/agree with (i.e. Hurl) but know that we're just trying to find a wider audience than we've had in the past to support us financially.

However, if you take anything away from this, understand that if you are a fan of gamer TV, then, I think, it's really in your best interest to support us...not necessarily by praising G4, but by not trying to perpetuate negativity about G4. Convincing others to hate the network is a roundabout way of killing what gamer TV we currently have on air and our chances to add to that in the future. So, as our moms taught us all, "If you don't have anything nice to say...."

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy our expanded coverage of Leipzig and PAX this month...and we'll check in with you all September 1 on Open Source.[/i]

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The problem with getting people to organize and watch G4's gaming show(s) (would you even consider AOTS a gaming show now?) is that 90% of the internet already assumes G4 is fail and a total lost cause.

There is some good at G4, at least their President is TRYING to get people to understand the business side of things. There a few positives happening at G4, in that they have greatly expanded their E3 coverage the past few years, X-Play has moved to 5 days a week and now they're branching out to cover stuff like PAX and Leipzig and even bringing back some of the old fan-favorites in "G4 Rewind" but the negative stigma they've got from so many gamers out there is going to be hard to shake.

Would you watch AOTS/X-Play daily if it meant the future return of a true gaming network?

-KnuxSonic